'Underbelly': Writing for The

8. From the First Fleet to ‘Underbelly’: Writing for the ADB Gerald Walsh I became acquainted with the Australian Dictionary of Biography half a century ago, in February 1961, when I was appointed a research scholar in historical geography in the Research School of Pacific Studies (RSPS) at the ANU. My task was to research the origins and development of manufacturing, or secondary industry, in Sydney, from its foundation to 1900. This involved identifying the manufacturers and industrialists—the flour millers, brewers, tanners, engineers, ironworkers, soap and candle makers, and textile manufacturers, for example— and gathering information on the locations of their factories, the processes employed, the power used, and the duration of their establishments and the place of manufacturing in the emerging colonial economy.1 Anyone doing research in Australian history at that time was always sent along to have a yarn with L. F. Fitzhardinge, who had the somewhat grand title of ‘reader in sources of Australian history’. My meeting with Laurie was most helpful. In conversations with him and other staff and students, I learnt about the existence of the Biographical Register that he had instituted in 1954 and about the two volumes then being prepared to cover the first period of the ADB project, which would include, on the floruit principle, people who contributed to the Australian experience in the early colonial years, 1788–1850. Some of these people were my manufacturers and I soon realised that many manufacturers were also farmers, graziers, merchants and traders, which is not surprising considering that the emerging economy was very small and could not support much specialisation of economic activity. Early days In 1961 RSPS and the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS), together with the library of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), were housed in the wooden buildings of the old Canberra Community Hospital. These buildings are largely still there, on either side of Mills Road, except that what was then 1 For some of the results of my research into manufacturing, see G. P. Walsh, ‘The English Colony in New South Wales: A. D. 1803’, New Zealand Geographer, 18, no. 2 (1962), pp. 149–69; ‘The Geography of Manufacturing in Sydney, 1788–1851’, Business Archives and History, 3, no. 1 (1963), pp. 20–52; and Chapter 13, ‘Manufacturing’, in G. J. Abbott and N. B. Nairn (eds), Economic Growth of Australia 1788–1821 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969). 249 The ADB’s Story the library and the western wing of the main hospital building has given way to new buildings of the Research School of Earth Sciences. If you stand in front of the elegant portico (now heritage listed) of the old hospital, at the southern end of Mills Road, you can see where Douglas Pike, the first general editor, had his office, on the right-hand side next to the road, and Sir Keith Hancock, director of the RSSS, was on the left or Black Mountain side of the entrance. The main part of the hospital consisted largely of three wings parallel with the road, and the wing, verandah and lawn nearest to Black Mountain were where staff and postgraduate students met for morning and afternoon tea. In those pioneering days the relatively small academic body was a close community of scholars. In addition to Hancock, Pike and Fitzhardinge, and sometimes Manning Clark from the School of General Studies, there were, among others, Sir John Crawford (economics), Jim Davidson (Pacific history), Oskar Spate (geography), Mick Borrie (demography), Noel Butlin (economic history), Patrick Fitzgerald (oriental history), Pat Moran (statistics) and Geoff Sawer (law). It was at a morning tea that Nan Phillips, the energetic and efficient secretary who organised theADB office, introduced me to Douglas Pike, who was then still professor of history at the University of Tasmania and on one of his regular visits from Hobart. At the time the ADB was still in its planning stages and the list of persons to be included in the first few volumes was far from complete. Pike and the State working parties had little difficulty in getting established historians and specialist workers to write the articles on prominent figures, such as the early governors, explorers, politicians, judges, clergy and prominent settlers, but they often had trouble attracting authors for the less-prominent people: traders, merchants, farmers, minor civil and military officials and manufacturers. Pike expressed interest in my work and, always on the lookout for potential authors, asked me to contribute some entries. I started my 48-year association with the ADB by writing 19 articles (13 in Volume 1 and six in Volume 2), which were published in 1966 and 1967 respectively. Among the people I wrote about were the First Fleeters James Squire, convict, farmer and Australia’s first commercial brewer, and Henry Hacking, quartermaster of HMS Sirius and explorer. Others were Benjamin Boyd, the flamboyant entrepreneur and pioneer of Twofold Bay, the Monaro and the Riverina; John Busby, engineer of Sydney’s first regular water supply; John Dickson, who introduced steam power to Australia when he erected his steam mill on Darling Harbour in 1815; Sir John Jamison, physician, landowner and politician; David Jones, founder of the well-known retail firm; Mary Reibey, Australia’s first businesswoman, whose portrait is on the $20 note; and James Wilshire, commissary department official and tanner. Wilshire had the largest tannery in the colony, which operated from 1803 to 1860 on the site of the now Central Local Court and Brickfield Place in Liverpool Street, Sydney. 250 8. From the First Fleet to ‘Underbelly’: Writing for the ADB The first article I completed and felt confident to submit was on Wilshire, the tanner. Pike commented on my first effort in the following letter: THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA HOBART 19-2-63 Dear Mr Walsh, Mrs Phillips has sent a copy of your article on James Wilshire with a request for comments. You have done a fine job on the man—his enterprise and energy come out clearly, in contrast to many articles where the man is lost behind a great mass of factual data. I think the prime question is—what will users look for in the Dictionary? Most will want specific information on dates and places, and a few will want a more general summary. If I’m right, then information becomes more important than interpretation, and that in turn raises the problem of word length. Your article could be edited down a little without sacrificing any substance at all, but even then would exceed the approximate span. I’m inclined to suggest, therefore, the deletion of such phrases of fact, on the grounds of relevance, as Page 1. line 5 ‘under the recommendation of John Palmer’. line 10 ‘in place of William Neate Chapman’ 12. ‘during the … Williamson’ 18 ‘upon … relieved’. These names have some importance but do not directly bear on Wilshire’s own personal story, in quite the same way as the reference to Nelson and Miss Pitt (p.2.l.2). By editing, I mean nothing more than say—p.2. line 4—to reread—‘By the bankruptcy of his English agent in 1811, he lost three years’ salary and had to sell some land and cattle’. The picking up of 10 words or so here and there, without losing the point, make quite a difference. With articles that have no substance, the problem is frightening, but your work is a delight. I suggest that you have a chat with Pat Croft2—she’s very good and merciless on style. I hope this has helped. You leave me grateful. With my best wishes, Sincerely, Douglas Pike. Pike’s reference to style was no doubt justified, but finding his comments both useful and encouraging, I continued to finish the other 18 articles for 2 Pat Croft was a respected editor of ANU publications and, later, of ANU Press. See Shirley Purchase, ‘Croft, Patricia (Pat) (?–1995)’, ANU Reporter (16 August 1995), p. 11. 251 The ADB’s Story the first two volumes and to suggest more manufacturers and other interesting characters I came across in the course of my research. And, of course, it was almost inevitable that if you found someone worthy who had been overlooked for inclusion, you were asked to write the entry. Historical research in the 1960s Doing historical research 50 years ago was very different from today. There was no quick, relatively cheap means of photocopying, and there were no computers, search engines or word processors. Note-taking was usually by hand on paper or cards and writing required a typewriter with carbon paper and correcting fluid. Library facilities were somewhat limited in Canberra, but were rapidly improving. The libraries of the IAS and the School of General Studies moved into their present buildings in 1963, but it was not until 1968 that the National Library of Australia (NLA) occupied its present handsome building on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin. Before this the NLA collections were dispersed at several locations: in Nissen huts at Scott’s Crossing of the Molonglo River, at the western end of what is now King’s Avenue Bridge; at Hume Circle in the suburb of Griffith; in the basement of the old Administration Building (now the Sir John Gorton Building) in Parkes Place; and even in (Old) Parliament House. The Mitchell Library in Sydney, with which I was already very familiar, was, however, and still is, the great repository of early Australian history; it contained most of the vital sources for the majority of people included in the first six volumes of the ADB, covering the years 1788 to 1890.

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